“Transport Scotland: report on the 2008/09 audit”
We have a response from the accountable officer, and members will also be aware of the further information that we received from the Scottish Information Commissioner. Does anyone have any comment to make or do we simply want to note the response?
Can you remind me what the Scottish Information Commissioner said?
Essentially that the Scottish Government’s approach is acceptable and that we do not have the right to that information.
We have had a very helpful note from the clerk, but I am not sure that it will be useful to pursue the issue much further.
I do not think that we can do anything further. It is interesting to note the changes that are being considered by the UK Government, some of which have already kicked in. It is currently considering whether to bring out information about salaries further down the scale. If the rest of the changes come about, some of that information might well be put on the record, or, at the very least, be made available to look at when we are comparing one year with another. Unfortunately, as things stand, we do not seem to be able to do anything further.
I understand that point and, obviously, I support the steps that the new UK Government is taking towards greater openness and transparency. If Transport Scotland was able to reveal pretty much immediately the names and salaries of those who are earning more than £150,000, which I assume is quite an arbitrary figure, I do not really understand why there is a problem with the names and salaries of those who are on the senior civil service pay grade and earning more than £58,000. No doubt that will be explained to us in due course.
Do we agree to note the accountable officer’s response, and consider raising the issue in our legacy paper?
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Section 23 Reports